I am trying to implement deep linking into this app. The app is a React Native Expo app, and is served on web, iOS and Android. There are a bunch of things we want to achieve with this i.e. link to specific things in the app such as certain messages etc. But currently my primary focus is just to navigate to general screens like 'Home', 'Messages', 'Login' etc.
I have been testing and so far, I can enter the URIs such as exp://host:port/--/login and they work as expected.
However, I know and understand that this will not work in a web browser on my laptop for example.
So my question is, how do I send an email to a user let's say after they have verified their account, prompting them to login, with a link that will for one, take them to the web app if they are on desktop, and two open the mobile app if they have it installed on their phone?
And just as an example, let's imagine my deep link URI is myapp://login
Thanks for any help.
EDIT
After looking around some more, I am deciding to consider the possibility of linking to the web app, and upon the web app loading, linking to the mobile app if they have it installed.
Given this, what is the best way to handle this?
You can follow one of the next approaches.
Validate the request origin and based on that generate the link for
an specific platform.
Generate as much links as platform are currently serving you app.
Like: Link to iOS, Link to Android and Link To web
You can design image buttons for each one to make it prettier
I thinking about real technical advantages of creating React Native app over web SPA. I figured out that only 1 advantage could be - it's saving and loading data in phone store. Another things like, for example, access to GPS, camera, etc are also available in JavaScript Web. So, that is real technical advantage of using React Native over Web?
Overall, it really depends on what your application is for...
If your Application will be used by mobile users only, then React Native is a perfect solution. However, if you want an application with a Web presence, so users can use it on Desktops etc - then it wouldn't really be suitable unless you did both a Web SPA and a mobile app.
For example, if I were to create an accounting app - which will be used by users on Mobiles and Desktop, then perhaps I'd consider building a SPA which is mobile friendly or both SPA and an App with an API for both.
If you were building a tracking app, which will only be available for mobile - then go for it.
If your users will be using desktop, then you can build it perhaps in React and when you get to React Native you know the react library!
React Native in itself builds both iOS and Android Apps, so instead of creating a 'hybrid' app (which includes webviews) or a native App in both iOS and Android - you only create one code base and build it to your chosen OS. This saves alot of development time. As the community is open source, alot of upgrades happen and there is alot of help online if you encounter an issue.
I have been a dev for some years now, but I can't wrap my head around what exactly is a PWA.
For example, if an app runs on a mobile phone it is a native app. I can point to it and tell people that "look it is a native app."
In a similar sense, what is a PWA? Where does it run? Which app can I point to and tell that it is a PWA?
From what I have read on the web I feel that a PWA is a website that has modern technologies and gives a "native app like" experience to the user.
Is my understanding correct?
All in all, it is a website that has native-like experience?
If so how does a user separate a normal website form a PWA?
The concept of the progressive web app (PWA) was approached by Google in late 2015. They are basically web applications (Website) but have look and feel like other native mobile apps. The progressive web app enabled websites can offer functionalities such as working offline, push notifications, and device hardware access.
Benefits of the progressive web app:
1. Smaller and Faster:
The progressive web apps are much smaller in size than native apps. They don’t even need to install. That’s they are not wasting disc space and load very fast.
2. Responsive Interface:
Progressive web app (PWA) supported web pages are capable to fit in every screen sizes automatically. It could be a smartphone, tablet, desktop or laptop.
3. No Updates Required:
Most of the mobile apps need regular weekly updates. Like the normal website, progressive web apps (PWA) are always loaded latest updated version whenever the user interaction happens and no App or Play Store approval required.
4. Cost Effective:
Native mobile apps need to be developed for both Android and iOS devices separately and their development cost is very high. On the other hand, progressive web apps are had the same features but the fraction of the prior price.
5. SEO Advantage:
Progressive web apps are discoverable by search engines and load super-fast. Just like other websites, their links are sharable too. This, in other words, gives good user experience and result in SEO rank boost.
6. Offline capabilities:
Due to the support of service worker API, PWAs are accessible in offline or low internet connections.
7. Security:
PWAs are delivered over HTTPS connection and secure user-data over each interaction.
8. Push Notifications:
By the support of push notifications, PWAs can interact easily with the users and provide a really amazing user experience.
9. Bypass the app stores:
PWAs don’t need the App store or Google play store support. Their updated version can be directly loaded from the web server without the requirement of app store approval. On the other hand, native apps need days of approval if any new update required. There are possibilities of getting rejected or banned.
10. Zero installation:
During browsing, progressive web app gets its own icon on phones and tablets, just like a mobile application, but without the need to go through the tedious and slow App Store installation process.
Disadvantages of the progressive web app:
1. Less access to system features:
Currently, Progressive Web Apps have limited access to native system features than native apps. Also, all browsers are not supporting its full features but maybe in near future, it will be the new standard of development.
2. More Android – Less Apple’s iOS:
progressive web apps are currently, most supported by Android devices. Apple’s iOS is only partially supporting.
3. No review standard:
progressive web apps don’t need any kind of review system which is applicable for native apps from the app store. It may make the process faster but lack of promotional benefits from the app store.
Progressive web app checklist:
The checklist for the progressive web app is extensive. I have described its main few items here.
1. HTTPS
2. Web app manifest - manifest.json
3. Service worker
4. Responsive design
5. App icon
6. First load fast even on 3G
Conclusions:
There are huge possibilities offered for the progressive web app. Although there are lots of features and browser adaptability expected in near future. But, whatever already exists in the market is enough to show a strong mobile presence.
Visit the video blog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVXP-RzA0Eo
A PWA is a website with certain progressive features, most notably the ability to load offline or in areas with spotty connection, load quickly, display push notifications, and have other native app qualities. The benefits of a PWA is that they run on any browsers (since they're a normal website, if the browser doesn't support PWAs then the user gets a normal website experience), even desktop browsers. On mobile devices, the user will often get prompted to install the web app to the home screen, which happens almost instantaneously and uses barely any data since the website is already loaded. This allows for way more "downloads" than a native app, leading to higher engagement. For another brief overview of what a PWA, Google has some great articles about them.
Technically speaking, a PWA is a website that has two things: a web app manifest file and a service worker.
A manifest is a JSON file (usually called manifest.json) with some information about the progressive web app. It contains information similar to what you would include with a native app. It has the name, the short name for display on home screens, icons, orientation, etc. A web app manifest can be used on any site (even non-PWAs) to give the browser more information and allow the site to create a shortcut on the user's homescreen, but it's required for a PWA. You can read more about it over on the Google Developer's site.
A service worker is a JavaScript file that can be installed by the browser to do certain tasks. This file will be run in the background of the site and can do things like caching resources, intercepting network requests (to do stuff like return data from the cache), receiving push notifications, background synchronization, etc. When a user first visits your site this JS file gets installed and starts running. This is the file that allows for things like offline functionality. You can read more about service workers on the Google Developer's site as well.
Roughly speaking PWA is a web app that has native feeling and can be installed to the users' home screen and can start & work offline with an optional sync to server when Internet connection gets available.
To be considered a Progressive Web App, your app must be:
Progressive - Work for every user, regardless of browser choice,
because they are built with progressive enhancement as a core tenet.
Responsive - Fit any form factor, desktop, mobile, tablet, or whatever
is next.
Connectivity independent - Enhanced with service workers to work
offline or on low quality networks.
App-like - Use the app-shell model to provide app-style navigation and
interactions.
Fresh - Always up-to-date thanks to the service worker update process.
Safe - Served via HTTPS to prevent snooping and ensure content has not
been tampered with.
Discoverable - Are identifiable as “applications” thanks to W3C
manifests and service worker registration scope allowing search
engines to find them.
Re-engageable - Make re-engagement easy through features like push
notifications.
Installable - Allow users to “keep” apps they find most useful on
their home screen without the hassle of an app store.
Linkable - Easily share via URL and not require complex installation.
I think PWA is quite a broad term. I say broad because there are many ways of developing and distributing a PWA. In Layman's terms a Progressive Web App is a 'web site' that is effectively used/displayed like a native app. I believe an example of this would be something like phonegap? where phonegap built an app 'surrounding/scaffolding' and displayed a webpage with some custom CSS over the top. (Editorial Note: Phonegap is not related to progressive web apps. Phonegap creates actual, native applications. Wrapping a website in a native application is very different from progressive web apps.)
Most recently though I've been working on a lot of react only based website which I believe is the closest to PWA you can get at the moment (especially for IOS who only support minimal feature to encourage you to build native apps for their app store).
But yea it's basically an app like app that's not an app; rendering from a web page :thumbsup:
Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are web apps that follow a set of guidelines
Starts fast, stays fast
Performance plays a significant role in the success of any online experience, because high performing sites engage and retain users better than poorly performing ones. Sites should focus on optimizing for user-centric performance metrics.
Works in any browser
Users can use any browser they choose to access your web app before it's installed.
Responsive to any screen size
Users can use your PWA on any screen size and all of the content is available at any viewport size.
Provides a custom offline page
When users are offline, keeping them in your PWA provides a more seamless experience than dropping back to the default browser offline page.
Is installable
Users who install or add apps to their device tend to engage with those apps more.
For more details see What makes a good Progressive Web App?
I have found some tutorials on the web on how to integrate admob with sencha. My problem is when you add a Site/App on admob, after selecting Smartphone Web for the ad type, one of the requirements is the Site URL. Now, the app I am creating is packed for android and ios but without a website counterpart.
How am I going to integrate admob to sencha without the needing to input the url of the app? Can I just make up any url, but will this deliver/detect the ads?
many thanks.
I'm pretty sure that you can just leave that box empty, its your Publisher ID that's used to deliver the ads.
Am I correct in assuming using a UIWebView is the only/best way to integrate Google Checkout into an iOS App?
A fully native solution would be the best fit as I only require the user to purchase a limited number of items that will never change.
Does any one know of existing Apps that have successfully integrated Google Checkout?